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From 1st of July 2007 virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England will become smokefree. For an information sheet relating to this and what exemptions apply you can click here or you can go to the smoke free website here
Have you got experience of Social Workers?
Good or Bad?
Have your Say.
Help Shape the Future of Social Work Training.
We are members of the service users/carer consultative group for the MA Social Work Degree, based in Exeter.
We are currently looking for additional members to join us. We meet in Exeter and we work together with students and teaching staff. If you would like to share your experience, thoughts and ideas to help improve social work training and education for the future then we need you.
There are lots of different ways to be involved and everyone has something to give. Expenses will be paid for your time and your travel costs. You can give as much or as little time as you like or are able. If you are interested and would like a chat about ways you could be involved then please contact: Rose Gander 01392 468059, rose.gander@devon.gov.uk or The Chairperson, Steve Anderson on steve@andos.fslife.co.uk or on 01392 262873
There is now a Care Ambassador section to the website - you can look at the pages here
Here is the latest bulletin from Skills For Care South West:
Click here to see it
For the latest updates and information about the Act please follow this link here
Here is an overview of the MCA. You can look at the list of dates and venues and also download a booking form for the courses here
This is now available. We have had several places booked already, so if you are interested don't waste time - go to the training page to read more - follow this link here
The Spring 2007 Newsletter can be viewed here
The members section will contain an archived section of all previous Newsletters soon. Once that is possible you will be able to access it through the members section. If you do not have your user id and passwords yet please contact us as they have recently been changed as the system has been updated.
It is stored in a .pdf format which can be opened with an Adobe Acrobat viewer (most machines have this already installed).
See below if you would like to contribute to the Newsletter.
If you have any ideas or wish to contribute an article to either the newsletter or to the website please contact Lynne (for Newsletter articles) and either Eoghan or Lucy (for website articles) at DCT on 01392 38 2071/ 38 3257/ 38 3591
For further information about this you can read up on it here
Now you can set up your own blog to help pass on your learnings to people working in the same fields as you. This way we can all share our skills and knowledge in a public forum
We will maintain a semi regular blog at this address, but please add your addresses to this blog if you use the service at Blogger.com
Here is our blog address: devoncaretraining.blogspot.com/
These are updated on a more regular basis now, so please do stop by and have a read, your feedback is always welcomed!
There is a Charity called the Cinnamon Trust. You can have a look at their web pages here. From their literature this is their mission statement:
"The only specialist national charity for people in their last years and their much loved, much needed companion animals.
A network of 8,000 volunteers “hold hands” with owners to provide vital loving care for their pets. We keep them together - for example, we’ll walk a dog every day for a housebound owner, we’ll foster pets when owners need hospital care, we’ll fetch the cat food, or even clean out the bird cage, etc.
When staying at home is no longer an option, our Pet Friendly Care Homes Register lists residential/nursing homes happy to accept residents with pets. And when a pet is bereaved we take on full time, life time care"
We are keeping a Blog here so you can keep an eye on some of the news and things we have been up to - should you wish to comment please feel free!
The Spring Programme 2007 has been very successful and there will be additions to the programme for May and June - keep looking at the training pages here
Dee West is the new Care Ambassador Project Co-ordinator, here she answers a few questions about the project so far:
How was the Care Ambassador scheme started?
"The Care Ambassador pilot scheme was started by Denise Harrison of Skills for Care in Dorset. It has been so successful that it has been adopted nationally. 'Care Ambassadors' are mainly young care workers who have undertaken to speak to students in the 14-19 age group initially, about career opportunities in social care."
How did the Devon Care Ambassador project start?
"The Devon project was initiated by PCSG (the Peninsula Care SectorGroup), Devon Care Training, Havencare, CareSouth and Lyndridge Residential Care Home. These stakeholders made a bid for the Care Ambassadors scheme to be developed in Devon with the backing of DCC through DCT."
What work has been done by the Care Ambassadors to date?
"The first event with the Care Ambassadors was at Plymouth Pavilions. The event entitled, 'My Future' was run by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and Learning Skills Council and took place on January 30th 2007. It was very successful, with lots of interactive activities for students to take part in to increase their awareness of career opportunities within social care. Great contacts were forged with schools within the Plymouth area and the local Connexions team."
Are there any other events planned by the Care Ambassadors?
"The ambassadors are going into schools on February 14th, February 22nd, February 26th, February 28th (an all day careers event at Stoke Damerell School) and they will be at Exeter Rugby Stadium on March 13th 2007. This is a 'Working With Children' event organised by the Workforce Development Team in Devon."
What are your future aims?
"We currently have 10 Care Ambassadors and with further recruiting we aim to have 24 in Devon. We are looking for more events and schools to attend with the Care Ambassadors and perform their presentations. We need Service providers, particularly in mid and North Devon, to come forward with possible candidates to be trained as Care Ambassadors. Care Ambassadors are able to develop their career paths and are marvellous PR's for their Care Providers."
Dee West, Care Ambassadors Project Co-ordinator in interview with Lynne Walmsley
There is a general Care Ambassador website here, but for Devon specific information please contact Dee directly.
E-mail: westdee@tiscali.co.uk or Tel: 07966 154272 for further information.
Here are some pictures from the Plymouth Pavillions Event: 
Care Ambassador Jonathan Soanes from Care South Honiton
Care Ambassador Anna Andrews from Deanbrook Havencare in full flow!
Care Ambassadors Dot Szmelter (also of Care South Honiton) and Jonathan with Ridgeway School students
The Care Ambassadors on the day, from left, Laura Townsend (Priory View, Plympton), Dot Szmelter, Dee West (Project Co-ordinator), Anna Andrews, and Jonathon Soanes
There is a new MSc in Integrated Health Care at the Peninsula Medical School. This is a fascinating view of Health and Social Care and is of interest to anyone who has an interest in the future of Care in the community. You can download the course flyer here
(654KB - pdf help)
Funding Packs are now available from the Peninsula Care Sector Group. Skills for Care Funding is available for social care employers throughout Devon and Cornwall to support their staff through social care training. For more information please contact Jen Gardner on 01803 207247 or jen.gardner@torbay.gov.uk. Jen has taken over from Lee le Marquand. Lee has moved on to work for part of Plymouth City Councils Finance Team and we wish him every success in the future.
Belinda England of PCSG has given birth to twins. All three are doing well and more news and pictures will follow soon!
The new Skills for Care website can be reached by clicking here The site contains lots of information on the South West Region, as well as useful contacts, services and news.
it still goes on!! Many organisations throughout the country are still receiving requests through the post telling them that they must complete a notification under the 1998 Data Protection Act at a cost of around £90 or run the risk of substantial fines. If you receive such a request you should ignore it, unless it has been sent to you by the Information Commissioner's Office in Wilmslow, in which case you are likely to need to complete an official notification under the 1998 Act, which specifies what personal information you process and provides other details such as the sort of information you hold. To read more on this article please click here.and here. If you have any questions regarding Data Protection you can visit the official site here
Available Now! The General Social Care Council have recently issued Codes of Practice for social care workers and employers. The codes aim to set out the conduct that is expected from social care workers and their employers. As well as informing service users and the public about the standard of conduct that they can expect from both social care workers and their employers. All social care workers and employers should be informed about the GSCC Codes of Practice. The codes of practice are free booklets available from the GSCC. To obtain your free booklet please contact the GSCC on 0207 397 5800. or click here to view the information online
The National Action for Carers and Employment partnership has a new internet based 'radio programme'. ACE Radio is a monthly audio resource for ACE Partners, Carers, Employers and those working with Carers across the UK and Europe. The ACE radio page can be found here. From this page you can listen to the latest programme and find useful information in the programme archives.
New fire safety rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on 1 October 2006. If you are: responsible for business premises, an employer or self-employed with business premises, responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes, a charity or voluntary organisation, a contractor with a degree of control over any premises, then you need to act now to ensure you have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in place. You can find out further details about this here or else you can email here for further information.